bureaucracy. there's no excuse forr inaction at this time. this is a tough time for a lot of people, millions of folks across the eastern seaboard, but america is tougher. and we're tougher because we pull together, we leave nobody behind. >> one of the things i'm going to be talking about the president about tomorrow is bringing the army corps in immediately to talk to us about how's the best way to rebuild the jersey shore. >> so let's bring you up to speed, the very latest that we know. at least 48 deaths have been confirmed. damage estimates have now ballooned to $50 billion. 6 million remain without power and on staten island, floodwaters are so high many are trapped in their own homes. the coast guard has been coming in from the air to bring them to safety. other communities like hoboken are frantically trying to pump water off the streets. homes and basements, many areas of this town right now remain impassable. >> within ten minutes we had four feet of water in the

basement. it was unbelievable. i never saw anything like that in my life. >> it was the scariest thing i have ever seen. >> poles are ripped in half, sidewalks are gone. >> water is rushing in, water is going by and you don't know what to do. >> also new today, the navy will send three carrier ships to the shores of new york city. the ships and their crew will assist in rescue and recovery efforts. transportation in new york city is still struggling towards a return to normalcy. it's a slow return, though. standing water has grounded planes and kept subway cars from the tunnels. one sign of hope on the horizon, michael bloomberg ringing the stock exchange back into business after two empty days on the trading floor. we have reporters blankets both new jersey, new york and west virginia, which was hit hard by blizzard conditions. i want to begin live in atlantic city where the president, as we told you, is going to tour the area with the governor this afternoon.

kayla. >> reporter: good morning, tom. it's that rare bipartisan meeting set to take place here in atlantic city, one of the eight new jersey regions declared a major disaster area by the president. as you can see the northernmost end of the boardwalk remains tattered from the storm. floodwater a lingering issue here. atlantic city remains a mandatory evacuation zone, and water -- running water is a major issue as well. it remains contaminated, you can't use it to wash even cuts because it was so breached during that storm. now in all over two million new jersey residents remain without power and in atlantic city for the residents who chose to stay behind, many are getting power back as of this morning, using that power to begin the cleanup effort, finally getting pumps, mugging them in and finally pumping out water from flooded homes. bulldozers and national guard removing heavy debris from the streets. chris christie has said new jersey's 83-mile shoreline

remains the most damaged that he's ever seen anywhere. one of the hardest hit areas to the north of us, point pleasant beach. let's send it up to ron allen who has the latest from there. ron. >> reporter: what was the patio of a restaurant here along the beach front, i think i'm standing on what's left of the roof right now. this is an example of the kind of damage you see up and down the jersey shore. if you pan inside here, you see that it is completely destroyed. the waters and sand came racing up here, the sand inside is about two or three feet deep. the irony of all this, if you look way inside there, there are some things on the shelf there, some napkins and ketchup bottles and cups that were undisturbed. but this area is a complete loss. coming back this way, this is an area that was supposed to be protected. out here along the ocean, there was a high sand dune just beyond the fence that used to be tlchl the sand dune was about 12 feet high, 30 yards long and that was what was supposed to protect the

town. but all that sand and water came rushing in here a couple of nights ago and obliterated this area. the last thing i want to show you, if you look out there, today is a beautiful day. the ocean is 40, 50 yards from the shore where the waves are breaking. that's why nobody expected this to happen. this is what things usually look like here. it's a beautiful, sunny day. but up and down this coast there is just utter devastation and people have no idea where to begin to clean up. the area is still evacuated. it's not safe to come here. conditions are harsh, there's no power, there's no running water, there's no sewage. so people who stayed are leaving. but again, just utter devastation up and down the coast. now let's send it up north to katie, my colleague in hoe boeken, new jersey. katie. >> reporter: right now we're stacked in the middle of an intersection here in hoboken. this is what it looks like for much of this square mile of a town. look down here, you can see the floodwaters are still relatively high. people are walking through these waters not even wearing boots. the mayor of this town has

issued a warning to everybody, don't come in this water, this water is contaminated. much of it is sewage. you can't see it so well right now but if we stay still long enough this water will get an oil slick to it, there's gasoline, heating fuel and sewage within this water. last night on rachel maddow's show, the mayor of this town issued an urgent plea for help. there were 20,000 people in this town of 50,000 trapped inside. the national guard came in and started to rescue people. this morning it was also a dire situation. here's what she told the "today" show. >> this is unprecedented. this is historic to have the hudson river literally breach the city of hoboken. we were like an island when the storm hit. and came in on both sides. we're hoping we can get to people and help them. we've been using pay loaders to get to people. we do need more resources. we have at least 20,000 people who are, you know, potentially

going tomt to be coming out and evacuate. >> reporter: some of the people are outside now for the first time. they have 500 million gallons of water in this town that they need to pump out. it will not take just one day. it should take about two. so far that's the process right here, pumping out this water an cleaning up and seeing what the damage is. for now let's go over to the east to my colleague, stephanie abram abrams. she's in breezy point, queens. >> reporter: good morning to you at home. let's have a look at what's happening behind us because there's still standing water. a huge surge here. you can see the wind is blowing that standing water in what looks like some sort of soccer field, also a playground over there. the surge was tremendous here. we spoke to a gentleman who said that a home was pushed off its foundation. just to give you an idea about the surge, behind me look how these two cars are not in the proper position. what i did was i found the white lines of how the cars should be

parked so this is the direction they should be in, they obviously aren't. then we take you around to this fire that took at least 80 homes, and there's still hot spots here. they're still trying to put them out with just water that is in between what's left of these homes. 170 firemen were out here wading through water that was up to their necks to try to save people. unfortunately there is nothing left of this neighborhood and there was a couple that lived here for 24 years. they said that they were looking for any sort of memorabilia and they were not able to find anything. but as you can see, a fire has taken this area. otherwise surge up to three feet of water in homes and also two blocks in we're talking about surge and sand covering the roads still in a lot of areas. now let's go to the snowy side of the story with janel klein who has been in snowshoe, west virginia. >> reporter: well, the storm rages on here in west virginia

and throughout much of the state where hurricane sandy has dumped several inches of snow, up to 2 feet in parts of west virginia. that's left more than 300,000 people in the dark today without power because this snow is so wet and heavy. it's taken down trees and it's taken down power lines. crews are having a very difficult time fixing those lines. they are going in my helicopter trying to identify where lines are down and they're having a tough time doing that because the storm continues to be so intense with high winds and heavy fog making flying difficult. in the meantime, authorities throughout the state are trying to make things easier for people riding out the storm. they're offering seven million meals over the next few days through fema, opening 50 shelters around the state and dispatching national guard troops to help people stranded in the storm. the governor's office asking all residents to be very patient, saying this will not be an easy storm to recover from and especially be patient with power still out, saying it could take days, even up to a week for that power to come back on.

back to you. >> nbc's janel klein reporting in snowshoe, west virginia. our thanks to jannel and all of our correspondents for their reports. we just got a new photograph of president obama this morning making an unscheduled stop at fema headquarters. the president has made it clear that he wants no red tape when it comes to the government getting what they need to hands the aftermath of the storm, for the government to get to people their needs. the president also visited fema ahead of the storm's landfall with that same message. this reminder, he's leaving for new jersey and the meeting with the governor and mayor of atlantic city in the next hour. we'll bring that to you right here on msnbc. the impact of all of this, people still waking up in the dark and that could go on for days. this is a big reality that so many are living with right now. more than six million people still without power in almost 20 states. we have a by the numbers breakdown by state. now, from maine to maryland, new hampshire to north carolina, even in illinois the most affected by far new jersey with

more than two million people still without electric. we'll update these numbers for you as soon as we get them. look at the swath of that map there, it gives you an idea of how many people impacted by this an so many people just doing what they can to get by right now. we want to show you live pictures coming into us from down south in tampa, florida. former governor mitt romney is about to hold a campaign event with florida congressman connie mack. and the campaigns are getting back into full swing. mitt romney back on the trail. and a new poll out today shows a very tight, tight race in the sunshine state. every minute of campaigning will count and vice president biden will be there today as well. romney is not the only one back on the campaign trail, as we point out. the vice president is, paul ryan as well as bill clinton. new polls giving a slight edge to the president. the power panel will weigh in on this in just a second. plus, you can't forget this dangling crane, we've show you the images, that still happenings perilously above new

york city. still a very dangerous situation. we'll bring you up to speed on what's being done to get that down safely. if you have pictures from the storm, tweet them to us, include the hash tag msnbc pics. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. and i was told to call my next of kin. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn't know this could happen so young. take control, talk to your doctor.

welcome back, everybody. the city that never sleeps is focused on cleanup and recovery once again today following the aftermath of hurricane sandy. but much of the city remains without power. take a look at this. this photo taken of the skyline last night showing lower manhattan uncharacteristically very, very dark. now, uptown, a huge collapsed crane remains hanging, dangling 70 floors up over a skyscraper there in midtown manhattan. this is the 157 building. safety experts say it is stable but they're still trying to figure out how they are going to get that down, what is their

very best plan. the white house says that the president will be back on the campaign trail tomorrow. this after his tour of new jersey today. now, for everybody else, today is a normal day. president bill clinton is going to be out on the campaign trail doing so in iowa. congressman paul ryan in wisconsin. vice president joe biden and governor mitt romney, they're going to be taking to the south in florida. now, romney is in tampa where he's going to kick off a campaign event this hour. we'll keep our eyes posted on that for you. there we see senator marco rubio at that point. i want to bring in msnbc contributor joanne reid and chip saltzman. let's get to it. the optics, joanne, talking about what we're going to see today with chris christie and the president out on the -- surveying watch together. it's really interesting to think of an odd couple, these guys together. christie seeming to be the president's new best friend. let's listen to the comments that christie has made over the last week.

>> the president has been outstanding in this. the president has been all over this and he deserves great credit. he's been incredibly supportive and helpful to our state and not once did he bring up the election. >> all right, so let's talk about this. chris christie, a new bff to the president. big difference, big ton-around from the christie that gave the keynote at the rnc. who does this benefit? >> it helps them both. it's like a bromance. it helps christie seem to be bipartisan on things that matter most to new jersey. when you're a governor, these kind of disaster responses are job one. this is what you are judged on. and for barack obama who's always had this desire to have a bipartisan agreement, he's tried it and gotten nowhere with congress, being able to have a republican governor really praise him and work with him and be seen with him and to be helping each other and cooperating is good for his

brand. >> i was going to say the images come in, we continue to be shocked by them. just when we see some of the worst, we continue to see images that surprise us. people in new jersey, while resilient, are certain low very vulnerable right now. knowing that they have got a friend in the white house is a very good thing. chip, new york city mayor michael bloomberg admitted that he asked the president not to include new york in his tour, the city that is. here's the mayor talking about that. take a listen. >> what i pointed out to him is that we'd love to have him, but we've got lots of things to do. i'm not trying to diss him, but i know he had planned a trip to new jersey and i said that's fine, it represents the whole region. >> so not trying to diss him. i think politically it really can't be deemed as a diss. when it comes to the president coming to new york, we all know what that's like. street blocks get shut down. the city is already pretty much at a standstill now. do you think, though, that the president is getting some type of diss even though the mayor

says it's not? >> if you want to take a helicopter tour of new york from new jersey, you'd think that would be pretty easy. emergency management in new york is stretched thin. just like they are all over the northeast. when the president comes to town, it stretches them even thinner. i think of all the people that we could criticize for being partisan, michael bloomberg is not one. and so i think he's probably making a decision that he thinks is best for his city. i think the president is going to get plenty of press with his -- like you said, his new bff chris christie. i think if he does lose the election, we could see a new television show "the odd couple" that would be pretty popular. >> we'll see how it goes today. we'll see if that show ever comes to fruition. i do want to talk to you about governor romney back on the campaign trail, as we've been telling everybody going to this event starting down in florida. these are pictures of romney in ohio the other day where they

shifted gears from the victory rally to a relief rally. although everybody said it was still a campaign event because they showed campaign videos. anyway. but the most important thing, chip, out of this is that romney refused to answer reporter questions on his stance about fema. and these are very warranted questions, obviously because of sandy and also because of his statements made in the primary debates when he was questioned by john king. so this situation is not looking too good for mitt romney right now. an these are valid reporter questions, correct? >> yeah, look, i think all questions are valid whether the campaign thinks so or not. i'm not going to sit here and justify governor romney's comments on fema. what i think he was trying to say is any time you get a federal agency and give them more money and power to the states, they do it better. i can be -- i can say that when i was in the governor's office here in tennessee. our emergency management team did such a better job dealing with tornados and the things we had to deal with on the ground.

fema was this very large federal agency. i don't think it's appropriate for governor romney and i think the campaign is making the riot call to talk about any criticism of fema right now because we're all in this together. he's trying to do everything he can to help. he's kind of got a very tough line to kind of cross and straddle in the fact that he can't come out and criticize, he can't attack the president like he was doing the week before this because you don't want to have the picture of governor romney in florida being the attack dog on the president and then you've got a picture of chris christie and barack obama taking care of the folks in new jersey. so i think the romney campaign is setting the right tone, which is having that relief effort yesterday. i think you'll see that the next day or two until the president reengages back on the campaign trail. >> joanne, as we talk about what's taking place, we've got new poll numbers that have come in to show three critical battle grounds, florida, ohio, virginia. as we look at this, if the election were held today, likely voters in ohio, florida, virginia, look at that. the president has in ohio most importantly that 50% mark. is this a snapshot of what's to

come and is there wiggle room if you're the romney camp to make up time? >> it's interesting, because you look at those states that you just showed, ohio, florida and virginia, mitt romney is not in any of those today. mitt romney, they have plans to be in places like michigan, minnesota and pennsylvania, states that david axelrod, the obama campaign strategist, just was on a conference call with reporters saying he bets his mustache that romney won't win any of those three states. so you look at the romney campaign spending resources in places like wisconsin, sending paul ryan to wisconsin to me does not project a campaign that thinks it's winning. they should put everything they have got into ohio. yesterday there was that quasicampaign/relief effort. they got a little burned for it because it was seen for what it was, a campaign event, but that's where they need to double down. because barack obama if he wins ohio, he could lose virginia and florida and still win. >> they have been doubling down. they spent all of this time in ohio and because of sandy spent

more time in ohio. but if we look at early voting polling that is coming out of ohio and then florida, the president leads. is it the obama ground game that's really pushing them ahead? >> it's the obama ground game. ironically it's also the republican party. when i was in ohio and talked to voters there and called people in florida who were doing early vote there, a lot of what's motivating really record african-american early vote turnout in north carolina, in florida and in ohio is anger about the tone of the republican party on things like voting rights, on things like voter i.d., on what they see as voter suppression. so they're equal part defense of president obama and anger at the republican party. it's driving what looks to be potentially record early african-american vote which only helps the president. >> and lastly the president leading with overwhelming support when voters were asked does the candidate care about people like you. does care at 62%. mitt romney at 44%. is there an empathy gap that's still plaguing the governor and

even more so now that we're going to see the president out with people, the regular folks in new jersey, the people that are dealing with storm cleanup, the first responders and the fema staff? >> yeah, i think this has always been the president's greatest strength and it's one we knew from the very quinnibeginning. it does it not only in person but on tv. what happened in that first debate, he didn't connect for 90 minutes and it put us back in the game. mitt romney closed that gap. i think over the next couple weeks as both of these men make their closing statements to the american people, most important to about seven swing states, mitt romney will have to find that way to connect in a way that puts him over the top. >> chip, joanne, my thanks to both of you. i appreciate all your insights this morning. >> thank you. one of the big concerns in new york city right now is mass transit. just look at this. that's our richard louie there checking out the situation. the subways are flooded. we will check in with richard. he's going to take us underground to show us how bad that damage is.

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welcome back, everybody. millions of people who rely on public transportation to get around on a daily basis in new york are stuck without options beyond walking. here's where things stand right now. mayor mike bloomberg said the city's subway system could be out until sunday at the very earliest and amtrak service in some places is up in new jersey and points south, just certain places, but that doesn't mean that the city is actually car safe, if you're thinking about that. there is unprecedented floodings in all ten tunnels thinking manhattan to the rest of the world. they are describing the damage as the most devastating event in the history of the system. it's not just ground and rail transportation. airport runways, look at this, across the tri-state area remain under water, which means that planes are not landing, not taking off so there's a real ripple effect across the country. at last count 18,000 flights are grounded.

msnbc's richard lui is in lower manhattan joining us with this firsthand look at how washed out the subways are. richard. >> reporter: thomas, we're in the southern part of manhattan and this is all the way at the bottom end. as you can see here, this station had water filled halfway at the moment but before as much as to the ceiling. this is a good water mark right here. then went down two feet. then down by a foot and a half. now we're looking this. take this bamboo stick. we're looking at about five-foot depths at the moment. we're a day and a half since the water did hit its peak. they are hoping to pump all of this out. this is just one of the potential seven areas, the tunnels that connect manhattan to brooklyn that were flooded fully or partially. at the moment what we're seeing is that they are seeing flooding as well in the car tunnels. not only in the subway tunnels. so the five million people that can't use these systems, there

are also those in cars. 60,000 cars that travel from manhattan to brooklyn, that particular tunnel itself, it is the longest underwater tunnel in the country. and it holds enough water, it filled up like a bathtub in the last day and a half. it holds enough water to fill the empire state building. it's not only those car tunnels, there's amtrak. newark and southward, no service. boston -- excuse me, there is partial service. boston up to portland, maine, there is also service but nothing coming in and out of new york's penn station which can have as much as 600,000 passengers each and every day. acela also closed off. we are looking at one of the most densely populated areas in the world. effectively their mass transportation system cut off. >> richard lui reporting for us from lower manhattan. thanks so much. right now we want to go to mitt romney. as we told you, he is in florida back on the campaign trail officially today speaking at

this campaign event in florida. let's listen in. >> i know we have differing viewpoints with regards to the campaigns. up until that point when we get to vote on november 6th, on november 6th you'll see us describe our respective visions for the country. my view is pretty straightforward, and that is i believe that this is a time for america to take a different course. that this should be a turning point for our country. i say that because i look at where we are and with 23 million americans, these are real people, folks trying to put food on the table, 23 million people struggling to find a good job. this is something that requires in my view a different path than we've been on. likewise, we have half our kids coming out of college who can't find work. this hasn't happened before in our history. we're at a 30-year low in new business formations. this is a real challenge for a nation that normally grows through innovation and risk-taking and startups of all kinds. we also have one out of six

people living in poverty. we need to take a new course. we have 47 million people on food stamps. think of that. richest country in the history of the earth, largest economy in the world, and yet 47 million people need food stamps? so i believe that this is the year for us to take a different course. i will bring real change and real reform andin a president t brings us together. now, i don't just talk about change, i actually have a plan to execute change and to make it happen. and there are five parts to that. and i hope you understand what they are. if you don't, let me just remind you. number one, i really do believe that we were given kind of an ace in the hole, and that is that someone learned how to drill in the earth, not just vertically but horizontally and then tap into pockets of oil and

gas. as a result, we have huge new resources and natural gas and oil. so number one for me is take full advantage of our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear and our renewables. and that -- that creates, by the way, a lot of jobs in the energy states, of course, but it also creates a lot of jobs in states that use energy, because manufacturing of all kinds uses energy, some more than others. and when energy is low cost and abundant, as it will be as we take advantage of these resources, we'll bring manufacturing back. it's already beginning to happen. we're going to see more of it happen. we're going to get more manufacturing back in this country. we're going to see this economy take off with that, number one. number two, trade. it is good for us to be able to trade with other nations, particularly in latin america. we have some -- we have some real advantages in trading with

latin america. many of our citizens have roots there. we speak the language in many corners of our nation. the time zone, of course, is friendly for us. and lat inamerica's economy is almost as large as that of china. there's a large middle class and growing middle class. this is a big opportunity for us to trade and expand the sales of our goods and services in latin america. but by the way, if nations cheat, and china has cheated over the years, that has to stop. we can't let them steal our jobs with unfair trade practices. number three -- >> mitt romney on the tump thst there at a campaign event in tampa, florida. 29 electoral votes up for grabs in florida where both sides tell you it's razor thin and could go either way. we want to take you back to the aftermath of superstorm sandy. take a look at this, this is what president obama can expect to see when he visits the hard-hit area of atlantic city,

new jersey, this afternoon. homes destroyed, boats tossed on their sides and parts of the iconic boardwalk completely damaged. at one point 85% of the city was submerged in water. joining me by phone is atlantic city's mayor, lorenzo langford. sir, git's good to have you her. your director of emergency management calls this the worst for atlantic city. the president is going to be in the city with you and governor christie around 1:00 this afternoon. what do you need to tell him about the immediate needs of the people there in your city? >> well, i think the first thing that we need to do is to get power restored as quickly as we can. you know, there's an old saying that pictures are better than words. and for the president to come to atlantic city, i am most appreciative. he will see for himself the devastation that has been wrecked on this city by sandy. but i'm happy to say that

although the loss in terms of property is catastrophic, on the human side the loss was very minimal. not to diminish the loss of one life that we had, but there has been no real serious injury to our residents. we did have one fatality. and so on the human side, i think we came through this as best as we could hope. certainly we would like to have preserved all life, but we did unfortunately lose one. but again, on the property side, catastrophic damage. on the human side, very minimal, so i'll very thankful for that. >> seeing things very important but the actions of the people of atlantic city restoring power more important. what is the timeline, sir, that you think that people will get power? >> as we speak, crews are out about atlantic city, mostly in the inlet area and working their way downtown. i'm hopeful that by tomorrow at this time we should have most of the energy power sources back on and the energy could be restored

and folks could start to be relocated in their homes. >> sir, as we pointed out, you're going to be touring the area with the president and the governor of new jersey, chris christie. you've had a pretty tense relationship between the governor after and before the storm itself with some heated exchanges. because the governor has accused you of mismanaging the storm, i want to remind everybody what the governor had to say. >> i had signed an executive order declaring an emergency and ordering the evacuation of atlantic city. for some reason the mayor gave a mixed message. >> mayor, you say that the governor is dead wrong on this. >> dead wrong. >> you said you look toward to going mano y mano with him. is this the first time you're going to see him today? >> since the incident, yes. i think it's absolutely -- i think it's absolutely reprehensible that the governor would choose a time such as this to focus on politics. the governor made a statement with no facts, no basis, didn't identify his source. as i said, i think the media

really needs to challenge the governor with respect to his statements. we did a press release, we posted on the city's website, we had two news conferences on saturday. our message was clear, it was concise, it was consistent. i don't know where the governor is getting his information from, but as i said, he's dead wrong. >> sir, is he faulting you because you opened shelters which sent a message that people could actually stay? obviously he did sign an evacuation roorder, but you kne people would most likely not heed that? >> listen, in life it's better to have options and not need them than to need options and not have them and thank god that we did. i was at one of those shelters at 8:30 on sunday evening, and as we were getting the rest of those -- or the last of those evacuees out of that shelter, we had two people come up at that time at the last moment. now just imagine had that shelter not been open, where would those people have gone? so i know that our plan was conci concise, it was correct and we did the right thing.

>> atlantic city mayor lorenzo langford. sir, thanks for taking time out for me. i appreciate it. >> you're welcome, god bless. the stock markets are open for the first time since hurricane sandy hit. new york city mayor michael bloomberg rang the opening bell this morning. [ bell ringing ] now, power out in much of lower manhattan, the new york stock exchange is running on its own backup generators. it was closed on monday and tuesday, the first time since 1888 that trading was halted for two straight days because of weather. ron insana joins me to talk about this. this was a huge concern about a huge backup in customer orders. how are things operating this morning as everything gets back on track global commercewise? >> actually it seems reasonably good. the market is effectively flat so far today. it hasn't had -- this is the first time it's had a chance to respond to better than expected economic indicators we got here at home on monday, personal income and spending were strong. some improved market performance out of europe. but it seems like a relatively quiet, well-contained day.

there's not a lot of movement in the dow. apple is down today because of a big management shakeup and that's pressuring technology stocks, but aside from that, if you didn't know what happened in the last 48 hours, you'd think this was a relatively normal day on wall street. >> all right, that's good to know as everybody gets back to work. as we pointed out, they have not halted trading for two straight days apes 1888 so people back to work. ron insana, appreciate it. president obama maintaining a slight lead in the battleground state of ohio. what does that mean for the key stone state and there's an ad war starting in pennsylvania. some think that it could be in play all based on what's going on in ohio. former governor ed rendell will join me next about that. first it was rain and wind and now fire. new blazes are popping up along the already battered jersey shore. we'll get you updated on that. we encourage you to send pictures of the storm if you have it. tweet us and make sure you include the hash tag #msnbcpics and we'll try to use them on air. i'm a conservative investor.

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ohio, ohio, ohio. president obama is not giving up in the critical battleground without a fight. a new poll showing the president keeping his lead and fighting back any attempt at an advance in ohio by governor mitt romney. now, the president is also fighting back against new romney ads aimed towards ohio that accuse the president and jeep of sending auto industry jobs to china. >> and now after romney' false claim of jeep outsourcing to china, chrysler itself has refuted romney's lie. >> joining me now from ohio is state senator nina turner. it's good to have you here. let's start at the very beginning with the ads from the romney campaign directed toward autoworkers there. and the latest ad, a radio ad, the governor's campaign also accuses gm of moving 15,000 american jobs to china. gmish u issued a statement. in it they say we've clearly

entered some parallel universe during these last few days. no anount of campaign politics at its cynical worst will change our record. it's not just that romney is taking on the president in ohio, romney is taking on the auto industry. and how is that resonating with oh ohioans, especially the job market we know there is one of the better ones in the country. >> it is, thomas. i was listening to some of the governor's remarks and i tell you, it made me nauseous, absolutely nauseous to hear this talk about things like that. jeep is investing $500 million into that plant in toledo. they'll be hiring 1,100 more workers. the fact that governor romney not only would lie but to incite fear into the residents and citizens of the state when it comes to the auto industry, he knows good and well that the president's policies helped to save the auto industry. and in the state of ohio, that means a lot of those are middle

class jobs paying middle class wages. one of every eight jobs in this state is tied to the auto industry, so it's absolutely despicable. but he has proven himself to be just the shape shifter that he is. he will say and do anything, even if it is to right out lie to try to win the presidency. nobody in ohio is going to be fooled by that. he is the same governor that supported the republicans here in this state last year in support of senate bill 5, the bill that is anti-worker and take away collective bargaining rights. so he needs to take his mess somewhere else because we are not falling for it in the state of ohio. >> as we look at the latest polling from cbs, the new york times and quinnipiac, find the majority of people in ohio, over 50%, is saying that the economy is getting better. obviously the governor's message is one that relies on economic frustration and the president is holding a firewall in ohio currently. we've talked before and you said that ohio is going to be delivered for the president. do you still feel confident about that?

>> i do, thomas. even though we're feeling some of the residual effects of sandy and my heart and soul and prayers go out to our brothers and sisters on the east coast, we are holding for the president. the latest polls show 50 to 45% for early voters, 60 to 34% and among women, thank god almighty 55 to 40% because women in ohio understand it and they don't want to elect leaders that will treat them like second-class citizens, leaders that have a campaign that would say that rape is a form of conception. it makes absolutely no sense. ohio understands who's been standing by their side for the last four years. and just as we delivered in 2008, we are going to deliver ohio to the president in 2012. the president has had our back here, our unemployment rate is 7%, lower than the nation, and we have the president's back here in the great state of ohio. >> one thing though, independent voters, and we talked about this, the polling showing earlier as we did in the hours taking a look at this, likely independent voters siding with

mitt romney at 51%. could the independent vote be a key for mitt romney to gain ohio? >> well, the independent votes are important to both camps, thomas. but i believe that the independents will swing the president's way. this is a choice election. a choice between a president who has been working very hard over the last four years to steady this economy or for a governor that will lie to try to get the presidency. i think independent voters understand what their choice is and that choice is president barack obama. >> ohio state senator nina turner. as always, lovely to see you. thanks for your time. >> you too, thomas. six days to go and america's big decision is coming our way pretty quickly. a big question, though, looming, is pennsylvania in play. the keystone state. both the campaigns are blanketing the state with ads in an effort to grab its 20 electoral votes. many political experts say if mitt romney can flip ohio, the keystone state could be next. >> by the way, i like coal. people in the coal industry feel

like it's getting crushed by your policies. i want to get america and north america energy independent so we can create those jobs. >> for pennsylvania, the choice is clear. >> all right. so joining me now to talk about this is obama surrogate and former pennsylvania governor ed rendell. sir, it's great to have you here. as we look at the latest polling out of pennsylvania showing mitt romney within striking distance, just four points separating the two candidates, 49% to 45%, so within the margin of error here, a $1.2 million pennsylvania ad by the romney camp, should the president be concerned? >> well, you're always concerned in elections. when i ran for election as mayor, i got 81% of the vote, i was concerned. that's number one. but number two, this is a sign that the romney folks know that ohio is gone and the only path to the electoral map is to expand it and get a pennsylvania or a minnesota or a michigan. and so it's really a hail mary pass. the polls are between four and

six and you don't make that up in a week of television. if mitt romney had started in pennsylvania right after his first debate with that great performance, it might have made a race here, but it's too late. they have got a lot of money so they have got no reason not to low the hail mary pass but it's not going to make a difference here. i believe it is a sign of real desperation that they concluded that they can't win the electoral vote in the so-called current battleground states so they have got to expand the map. if you can't do it in a week. >> it's still working to make the obama camp respond to this, almost in a knee-jerk reaction to buy ad time as well. >> sure. but the obama campaign always had money in reserve for pennsylvania, for michigan if this happened. and again, they have got more than enough resources to work on a one-week schedule. but also, don't underestimate the field ability. obama has five times as many offices and field offices in pennsylvania than the romney

folks have. the obama folks have been pushing for this for the last year and a half. they are ready to go. i think the republicans made a big mistake with the voter i.d. law, that as you know got stayed by the courts, but it got our base angry. angry. they may have been luke warm about voting this time but you tell someone they can't vote and had they get their backs up. there's going to be a good turnout in pennsylvania and the president is going to win. he won't win by the 10 or 20 points the polls were showing a month ago, but he'll win by 3, 4, 5 points i think. >> i do want to talk about expanding the maps. republicans are saying they're coming on strong in minnesota, wisconsin, michigan, all these states to lean democratic. is the president's eye being taken off the ball, ohio, virginia and other battlegrounds to defend the states that should be easily locked up? >> no. again, they've had money allocated for this contingency so they're spending the money. probably do robocalls, i did one today on the voter i.d.

get a robocall from president clinton, vice president was always scheduled to go into scranton. he's going into scranton over the weekend. i think that's more than enough to beat this back. again, i don't think the president's going to win by those 10, 11 points but he's going to win by 3, 4, 5 points, and 20 electoral votes. >> rounding up coming into the home stretch. ed rendell, great to see you. >> thanks, thomas. >> seaside heights made famous because of the popular reality show "jersey shore." let's take a look at that famous boardwalk, almost wiped off the map. hurricane sand gee could be one of the costliest storms to ever hit the u.s. just look at how much these storms have cost. obviously katrina at one at $106 billion but sandy with the rising total now at $50 billion worth of damage, again, that is just the rough estimate right now after the first couple of days of assessing the damage from this storm. we're going to be back with much more after this. er cup at the drive-thru.

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welcome back want to take you to staten island and show you new images about rescue efforts that are taking place there, as re skew crews try to get people out safely. we understand they are looking for people who may have perished after sandy and have been stuck in their homes the last several days. they are currently going door to door. look at these streets, comple completely flooded, people stuck inside their homes. many people unaware of how bad this flooding would be. but now rescue crews trying to get to everybody, going door to door. we see some people there in the streets, cars, cars just stalled, maybe even just moved out of the driveways they were parked in because of the floodwaters. we've been keeping tabs on you our loyal viewers via the twit pics you've been sending us at msnbc and the storm damage that has accrued since sandy.

some of the pictures, sent to us by a fellow msnbc, a tree crushing a car a few locks from long island. this one from tamarj, cast iron elephant knocked off in manhattan. a lot of wild pictures flooding into us. feel free to send us any you have. send them #msnbc tweet me at thomasa. roberts and find me on facebook thomas a roberts msnbc. thanks for your time. see you tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. earn time. joining me pollster mark melman democratic strategist, alex sword, former labor secretary robert reich and melissa harris perry. until then follow me on twitter. "now" with alex wagner comes your way next. ah.

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